I actually hit the sack before midnight last night, which is pretty much an unprecedented event in my life. The main reason was because I had to get up early and take my car into the shop to get some TLC.
While on my road trip a few weeks ago, a few things suddenly stopped working, including the door lock switch on the driver’s side door, the CD player (it currently does a better job grinding CDs then it does playing them), and a small problem with my gear shifter. In addition, my car is about one year past the date I should have had a one year tune-up.
In terms of the last item, it’s a weird situation with my car. I have an extended warranty, which basically has provisions that I have to take care of my care if they are going to honor the warranty. The problem is that I rarely drive it, and so it seemed sort of silly to have a full one-year tune-up when there was only 6,000 kms on it. I have been fairly religious with changing the oil and doing tire rotations, but this will be the first major tune-up my car has received. It’s not cheap – $240, but since it’s done at Mazda it will all be in the computer should I ever need to make a claim for the extended part. In terms of the other smaller items, I was told they should all be under warranty, so that’s good.
On the way to the Mazda dealership, I actually briefly passed my friend Matt who was walking his dogs and showing off his new hat. Since the CD player was dead in my car, I was forced to listen to the radio, which has, since the last time I listened to it, seriously gone down-hill. First, there are hardly any real stations left in Vancouver it would appear. And second, most of them are completely flooded with advertising. I briefly did a stint with a satellite radio last year, and actually really liked it, but couldn’t justify to the money given that I rarely drive.
But seriously, I don’t know how people can handle normal radio anymore. I suspect mainstream radio is on it’s way out, probably to be replaced by another flux of smaller stations that actually, you know, spin records again.
One song that actually did play was “If I Had A Million Dollars”, by the Barenaked Ladies. The funny thing is that while listening to the song I actually sort of thought that a million dollars wasn’t really enough these days. Condos in this city are pushing the $500,000 price, and once your million dollars has been taxed, you’ll barely have enough to buy a condo. After that, you’ll still be working the rest of your life. No, I think that song needs a refresh, something on the order of “If I Had A Million iPhones”, or “If I Had A Couple Tanks Of Gas”.
Anyways, that’s it for my Monday update. Time to get to work.
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